Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Back from the dead? Palm Springs could revive free Buzz shuttle with help from SunLine

A look at the two-day process required to outfit the BUZZ with its colorful graphics.

Buy Photo

Palm Springs Mayor Robert Moon and Suzanne Somers toast to the one year anniversary of the "Buzz" bus in downtown Palm Springs. (Photo: Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun, Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun)Buy Photo

The free, downtown trolley which served Palm Springs residents and visitors until last month could be revived this fall under a proposal from the SunLine transit agency, which was presented to the Palm Springs City Council on Wednesday.

SunLine CEO Lauren Skiver said assuming the service – an already established transportation line with loyal riders – would have great benefits for the agency and could resurrect a much-loved city service that was cut for financial reasons at a lower price point.

“This is what we do and this is what we do for you and the community,” she said. “This is what we would call our wheelhouse.”

Palm Springs Mayor Robert Moon (left) and Suzanne Somers (center) toast to the one-year anniversary of the Buzz bus in downtown Palm Springs in January 2016.(Photo: Omar Ornelas / The Desert Sun)

The City Council voted 4-1 in February to shut down the shuttle, which had cost the city about $1 million annually. Council member Christy Holstege cast the lone no vote, saying she thought it was “unique” and a “driver of cool” for the tourism-centric town.

The Buzz gave its final passengers a lift on June 30. Or so those riders thought.

After the Council cast that fateful vote, Skiver approached Council member Lisa Middleton, Palm Springs’ representative on the SunLine board, with an “extremely attractive proposal” that would cost the city a quarter of what it had been spending previously, Middleton said.

That baseline program, which would run the Buzz on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. from September through April, would cost Palm Springs $232,500. They could add on additional options, like running the trolley year round or on Sundays, for an added cost.

Buy Photo

The Palm Springs City Council extended the Buzz service for another year.(Photo: Richard Lui/The Desert Sun)

“What we have here is a very modest cost to the city to continue a program that has been successful but was previously unaffordable at the previous cost,” Middleton said.

No one spoke about the proposal during public comment.

Council member J.R. Roberts said it's exciting to know that the Buzz “might buzz again.”

“I shouldn’t say this publically but why didn’t we do this the first time around?” he asked, adding SunLine would be a perfect fit to run the service.

Even at the reduced price, Mayor Rob Moon said it was still an expense the city hadn’t budgeted for in the next fiscal year and they had to be careful as they were still negotiating contracts with multiple city employee labor unions.

“We will have to look at this carefully because we’re facing a lot of conflicting priorities,” he said.

Buy Photo

Buzz is a free trolley service in Palm Springs, running from the north side of town to the south every weekend from Thursday through Sunday.(Photo: Richard Lui/The Desert Sun)

Initially, the city is looking at resuming the service Thursday to Saturday, year round, at a cost of $346,500. The trolley would still be free, but eventually SunLine would look into introducing a reduced fare to offset the costs of operation.

SunLine would completely take over the service from the city, but plans to use the same buses – with a SunLine logo on the side – and run the same route.

The city council did not take any binding action Wednesday, but asked city staff to work with SunLine to bring back a contract for them to examine as soon as possible. If a contract is executed soon and the process of acquiring the Buzz buses moves smoothly, Skiver said the service could resume as soon as November.

“We’re rubber on the road people so you give us some rubber and some road and we’re on it,” she said.

Corinne Kennedy covers the west valley for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at Corinne.Kennedy@DesertSun.com or on Twitter @CorinneSKennedy.